The NBA Board of Governors announced the creation of a foundation to support generational change and sustainable economic growth in the Black community. The foundation will partner with the National Basketball Players Association to achieve its goals.
NBA owners will collectively donate $300 million over the next 10 years to empower Black communities and support career growth from high school and on. The foundation will look to raise additional external funding and grow the work of other organizations devoted to education and employment.
It will also search for specific partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
“The creation of this foundation is an important step in developing more opportunities for the Black community,” NBPA President Chris Paul said. “I am proud of our league and our players for their commitment to this long-term fight for equality and justice, and I know we will continue to find ways to keep pushing for meaningful institutional change.”
All 30 NBA franchises will work directly with the foundation to facilitate sustainable programming and create change in home markets.
“We are dedicated to using the collective resources of the 30 teams, the players and the league to drive meaningful economic opportunities for Black Americans,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said.
“We believe that through focused programs in our team markets and nationally, together with clear and specific performance measures, we can advance our shared goals of creating substantial economic mobility within the Black community.”
The foundation will have a board of directors comprised of eight representatives. Four directors will come from the NBA Board of Governors, while three will be from players and executives of the NBPA. The league office will contribute the final member.
The fight for social justice has been a focal point of the NBA restart in the Walt Disney World bubble, and the creation of the foundation comes as a welcome response to the players’ demands for league action.
“I think it’s pretty great,” said Los Angeles Lakers All-Star LeBron James. “Just off the top of my head, $300 million over the next 10 years, the NBPA and NBA have always supported things of need. In communities like the Black community, where we don’t get a lot of the same opportunities as other people, to have that type of support and help, it means a lot. I know how much I’m doing with my foundation and my community.
“All those families always talk about they don’t feel like they’re heard or loved or like anyone is going to ever give them an opportunity. This falls in line with that. I don’t know the exact neighborhoods or whatever the case may be, but I know they’ll choose those correctly. I know these families or whoever they target will be very overwhelmed.”
LeBron thinks career experience is moot in bubble
James has played more minutes than anyone in NBA history and led multiple teams to the NBA Finals. With the NBA restart taking place in a bubble, however, James believes that in an unfamiliar environment, experience is much less of an advantage.
“This is a totally different situation than any other situation I’ve been in during my career,” he said. “So I have zero experience with having the No. 1 seed inside a bubble, during seeding games, playing in August. This is a learning experience for all of us, and we’re going to continue to take it day by day.
“We’re just trying to fit everybody in, try to do it on the fly, and at the same time get our legs back underneath us, get our system back in place, try to speed up the process for guys who haven’t been with us in Dion and JR.”
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